Storyline is one of the “making or breaking” factor when it comes to games or movies and one of the most defining moments of the story is, the ending. The endings of the story, tends to leave a lasting impression on the players or the viewers, as we have seen with games like GTA 5. Last of Us 2 has recently been in the spot light when the controversies broke out regarding the ending of the story.
It became the reason of dislike for many of the Last of Us fans. Even before the game was released, rumor had it that the main character, Joel from the part 1 would end up being dead in the second part and that was actually the case. Now what’s bothering many fans is the fact the they don’t actually get to play through the whole game with the character that they have grown out to be so fond of, but right after player starts to settle in the game, Joel meets a brutal fate.
But there’s more to the story, Joel’s death, as brutal as it may be, sets the tone for the rest of the game. The turn out being, Ellie being the witness of the cruel murder by, Abby, of someone close to being a father to her.
Naughty Dog’s put you in the shoes of a daughter who just witnessed the inhumane death of her father figure and now this rage-driven daughter is out for revenge. This whole scenario, works rather well for the players to get comfortable with a sudden change of narrative and get over the death of their favorite character.
Now starting off with a completely new character after losing the one that they loved wasn’t the reason for players’ dislike. But realizing that they had to play as, Abby through half of the story is what got on their nerves. The fact that they were forced to play a negative character, after she brutally murdered Joel with a golf club. This made the players explore an unfamiliar territory, which actually was quite a bold move by the developers.
But many of them admired how this forced them out of their comfort zone and gave them a new perspective to try out, and not an easy one apparently. The fans however, split at the ending of part 2 as Abby gets to live, while the rage that Ellie carried to get revenge for Joel somehow faded at the end when she got into fight with Abby but the memories of Joel made her weak and she just couldn’t get herself to kill Abby.
Ellie gets on with her life and decides to pursue her passion, as she sits in the room and starts playing guitar, while thinking back on her relationship with Joel.